Wild Beauty
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: Wrote this quickly too. I wanted to explore Katniss as a desirable woman in her district, whom many men would lust after her even as she was a young adult. And of course, we all know who wins her in the end... Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: Lotta People Try to Grab Me

**Chapter 1: Lotta People Try to Grab Me**

It's another busy day in the Hob. I am weaving through the crowd in my blue Reaping dress that is a hand-me-down from my mother's. My normal hunting wear is in the laundry, and I won't get it back until tomorrow.

I finish my standard sale with Greasy Sae, and am just turning to leave when a Peacekeeper blocks my way. "And where's a pretty little thing like you going in such a hurry?"

I gulp. "Move aside, please. I have to get home."

"Not until we have a little fun," the Peacekeeper grins. He puts his arms around my waist and forcibly kisses me. His hands wander as he audaciously grabs my butt through my skirt.

"Mmmm!" I squeal, trying to push him away.

"Give someone else a chance!" a Seam miner calls, and I feel him come up behind me, trapping me between the two men. Hands grab and squeeze my breasts. I try to elbow the guy in the stomach, but my arms are pinned to my side by the Peacekeeper's embrace.

I wish I could say this is an extraordinary occurrence, but it isn't. I may only be 23 years old, but apparently I am one of the most beautiful women in District 12. Many men have lusted after me, or made a pass at me, or sexually harassed me. All in vain, because I would never allow myself to be seduced that way. I will never marry, or sleep with any man. Never!

Suddenly, both sets of groping hands are torn away, and I hear scuffling and shouts. I quickly touch myself, even though my clothes have not really been disturbed, as if that will cleanse me of the groping that has just occurred. Meanwhile, I see a flash of blonde hair and blue eyes throwing punches that send the miner and Peacekeeper running. Peeta Mellark, the young baker who just took over his family business. A white mask covers part of his face, covers the burns that he endured after he lost his entire family in that bakery fire.

"Let's go," he tells me, and he leads me by the hand past the gawking onlookers out of the Hob and back to the bakery. Thank goodness he showed up when he did. I was going to head to his place to make a trade, anyway. I used to do that with his father, who often bought my squirrels.

"I'm fine, Peeta, really," I try to shrug it off, a little ashamed that he caught me in such a compromising position.

"He should not have been grabbing at you like that, Katniss," and I am surprised to hear Peeta's voice shake with rage. "Neither of them!"

"A lot of people try to grab me!" I shrug off, adjusting the shoulder of my dress.

"It's still wrong! No woman should be touched like that, least of all you! You should be treated like a queen, like your body is a piece of glass or 14-karat gold!" Peeta passionately says.

I blink in amazement. "Wow, Peeta. That was really sweet."

We make our trade for squirrels. Peeta offers to escort me home, just in case, but I turn down his kind offer. I encounter no other men as I walk home to the Seam.


	2. Chapter 2: Need a Date

**Chapter 2: I Need a Date**

I go to the bakery one day euphoric. I go in the front this time, something I rarely do. But this is for my sister. The eatery is empty at this time of morning, so Peeta is alone working the counter when I walk up.

"Katniss!" he smiles as if happy to see me. "What are you doing here?"

"I need a favor. My sister is getting married to Rory Hawthorne!"

Peeta stares. "Bu she's only 19!"

"That's old enough," I shrug. "Mother was 19 when she married Daddy. Anyway, I was hoping you could do the wedding cake for her?"

"Tell Prim I would be more than honored," Peeta smiles. "And no cash. It's on the house."

I blink, but then get another idea. "In that case... Mother is expecting me to bring a date. Why don't you accompany me after you deliver the cake?"

Peeta blinks himself, taken aback, but pleased too. "It's a date, then. See you at the wedding!"

* * *

Prim and Rory's Toasting is beautiful.

And Peeta's confectionary creation is more than stunning. As a token of gratitude, I have him on my arm the whole night, which leaves many of the guests in shock. They know how fiercely independent I am, and that this is probably the last Everdeen toasting they will ever get to see. But I let them stare, even as Peeta and I dance for the rest of the night.

That doesn't mean everyone's judgement doesn't sting, though. After a while, I can feel myself growing teary, and I lie to Peeta and tell him that the light is weakening my eyes. He does not seem fooled, however, and smuggles me back to the bakery so I can have a place to be alone. Only then do I cry in front of him.

"Everyone is judging me for not wanting to get married, Peeta! You know how it is in this district! Most people marry, and those that aren't - like Mother - are not so by choice; widowed! And what will happen when Prim and Rory decide to have children? Will the little ones judge their Auntie Katniss for being an old maid? A spinster?"

Peeta is staring at me as if he has never seen me before. "Why do you care all of a sudden what people think of you being tied down or not? You were the one kicking and hollering when creeps were literally pawing you in the Hob! And look at me: I'm not married! Just because you aren't married, doesn't mean you'll be alone." He suddenly grabs my arm. "And you won't be alone, Katniss," he tells me fiercely. "You won't ever be alone."

I stare at him through my tears, deeply touched.

And so I kiss him. I pull him closer and closer and open our mouths together so we fuse as one and deepen the kiss. Peeta's hands encircle my waist and he pulls me closer, but he does not touch me anywhere beyond that, which I appreciate. So I take his hands and for the first time, let a man touch me in my intimate areas. When his hands tentatively grope my ass through my party dress, the fabric rides up, and I eventually hook a leg around his waist so that my hunting boots are digging into his skin. I leap into his arms, wrapping my limbs about him so he has to hold me up. We stagger back into the wall, and I suddenly squeal as I feel... something hump into my center of its own accord. "Mmmm! Mmmmm!" Is that...?

Peeta breaks the kiss sharply, staring at me with something that many men in District 12 have stared at me with: unmasked lust. "I've wanted you since I was five years old. Feel that?" And he humps me again, and I realize it is his manhood digging into my center. "That's my body. Aching for you."

I stare at him, moved. "You've ached for me since we were in kindergarten?" He nods. "Well then, what's stopping you?"

Peeta kisses me ferociously again, and we stagger upstairs to his bedroom. Throwing me down on his bed, Peeta mounts me, and we reverently strip each other of our clothes.

As the Baker begins to make sweet love to me, taking my virginity for himself, he treats me just as he said I should be treated. He makes love to me like a queen, like my body is made of glass or gold. It only makes me orgasm all the faster and he quickly follows.

* * *

Lying wrapped in each other's sweaty, naked embrace, in the afterglow, Peeta suddenly pops the question:

"Katniss Everdeen... will you marry me?"

I stare at him, my eyes suddenly filled with fears. I can feel how something deep within my core is now broken, still sense the traces of blood and semen clinging to my thighs. Feel the ache between my legs. And it only reminds me: Marriage eventually means children... children who could one day be Reaped for the Hunger Games. But, Peeta has been one of the only men who has been kind to me...

So I decide to split the difference. Make him happy, while still protecting myself. So I kiss his lips chastely and bravely nod.

"Yes. I will marry you. But..." And I hold up a hand as his lips dive for mine. "Only a Toasting. No documents or anything on the record in the Justice Building. Just we two."

Peeta kisses me. "Deal," he beams.

"And one more thing," I smile gently. And I take off his white mask. The burn marks might look ugly to others, but to me, they are beautiful. "If you're going to marry me, I want to be wed seeing the entire face of my husband."

Peeta nods in agreement, his eyes filling with tears.

* * *

A few weeks later, I don the same wedding dress that my mother and my sister got married in. Peeta arrives, in a suit and with no mask. My family does not seem to mind his appearance.

Kneeling before the fireplace, Peeta and I toast a piece of bread and share it. Then, we seal it with a kiss, licking the errant crumbs away. We're married. No one in District 12 feels truly married until after a Toasting.

But, I have a change of heart in one way. After we consummate our wedding night in our marriage bed, I go to the Justice Building and file marriage papers with the Chief Clerk, saying that I am Mrs. Peeta Mellark, the wife of the Baker.

I am now Katniss Sierra Everdeen Mellark.


End file.
